


Phoenix

by SsilverStreak



Category: Godzilla (2014), Godzilla - All Media Types, Godzilla: King Of The Monsters
Genre: And I return with a Godzilla fic, Because I was left unsatisfied by something in the movie, Gen, I Don't Know Either, Over half a year of not being able to write, Spoilers for KOTM, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-04-06 12:40:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19062898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SsilverStreak/pseuds/SsilverStreak
Summary: Sometimes, legends get a little mixed in the retelling.Madison learns that firsthand.





	Phoenix

They had only been back on the Argo for fifteen minutes before Madison became distressed.

“We have to go back,” she mumbled into her father’s shirt.

“What was that, Maddie?” Mark asked.  The adrenaline crash after the last few days; and few hours in particular; had finally hit and he was slumped against the closest wall, not having been able to move further after they had walked off the transport.  He hadn’t let go of Madison in all that time, though.  He wasn’t sure if he could ever let her go again.  Bubble wrap was starting to look tempting.

“We have to go back, Dad.  We have to check on Mothra.  I didn’t see her at the end with the others.”

Mark swallowed hard.  Of course, Maddie had been too occupied with getting the hell out of there to see what happened.  “She’s gone, Maddie.  She… Ghidorah got her good, and her and Godzilla were down, and then she did… I’m not sure what she did, but all the light from her wings went into Godzilla and then she just…”

It wasn’t right, seeing something that big and majestic curled up on the ground like a moth that had flown into a bugzapper, half fried and not moving.

Mark hated the titans, but he couldn’t bring himself to hate Mothra, not the only titan that had given Godzilla a fighting chance against Ghidorah.

“She’s gone, Maddie.”

“No!” Madison struggled against him, and he was too weak from the crash to fight it as she pushed at his chest until she could sit up and glare at him.  Her dirty cheeks were streaked with tears, fear and loss having taken their toll, but apparently one of them had regained their second wind.

Not bad for someone that had a house crushed on top of them.

“She’s not dead, Dad!  We have to go back!”

“Maddie, I-“

“Dad!  Don’t ask me how I know, I just… I just _know_ that she isn’t dead!  We need to check on her!”

Mark groaned and rubbed a hand over his eyes.  When he dropped it, he didn’t even have the energy to jump when he discovered Sam and Dr. Chin standing over them.

Sam fidgeted a bit with the cuffs of his sleeves, then spoke.  “I mean, well… it probably would be best to confirm one way or the other, right?  It’s not like anyone could get close during the fight.”

Mark shook his head and turned to Dr. Chin.  “Dr. Chin, please talk sense into these two.”

The woman hummed thoughtfully as she tapped a few keys on the laptop in her left arm.  “It may not be as far-fetched as you think.  You know of the legend of the phoenix, yes?”

“The fire-bird that never dies?”

“Not quite, it dies, but is reborn again from the ashes.  For some time, I thought that the legend was a reference to Rodan, and people misunderstanding his ability to handle extreme temperatures.  The fire aspect certainly fits.  But I have been researching the images taken of carvings from Godzilla’s home, and I’ve come to another conclusion.”

Not caring about possible dirt, Dr. Chin sat down on one side of Mark and Maddie, arranging the laptop on her knees and angling it so they could see.

“You see these?” She let the question hang in the air.  The carvings needed no explanation.

A moth, with shining wings.  The same, crumpled on the ground.  An egg.  A larva hatching.  A cocoon.  And finally, the same moth again.

“Perhaps, along the way, the myth of the firebird and the myth of the flying creature that could be reborn got entangled.  After all, it has been a very long time since the Titans were active around humanity.  There’s bound to be some confusion along the way.”

Mark snorted.  “Or maybe it just means that there are eggs inside of Mothra, and they’ll only hatch after she dies.”

“In which case, we need to go and _check_ , Dr. Russell,” Dr. Chin admonished him.  “Besides, would you rather have one Mothra, or multiple ones?”

Mark shuddered.  He never thought that the option of a giant bug rising from the dead would be the _better_ option, but here he was.

“Fine.  Have the titans left Boston yet?” Or what remained of Boston, anyways.

“No, but with Godzilla still there I do not think they will give us any trouble.”

Mark raised a brow, but Dr. Chin laughed at him.  “If Godzilla wished us harm, he could have easily done so after waking him up.”

He grimaced.  Oh, yeah, that was another thing that was going to feature in his nightmares later, wasn’t it?  That massive titan leaning down with a face that shouldn’t be that expressive on something so reptilian.  Godzilla couldn’t speak, not in any way humans could understand, but his message had been loud and clear.

‘ _While I appreciate that, if you ever set off a nuke in my face again, I won’t react so well next time.’_

“Dad, please.  I just want to check on her.  I think she’s the only Titan that actually _likes_ humans.”

Mark sighed.  He hated being outnumbered, especially against good arguments.  “Fine.  But right afterwards _you_ are going to get some food in you and a full medical exam and some _sleep_ , young lady.”

“Deal.”

***

Even if they were reasonably sure the Titans weren’t going to attack, they still gave them a wide berth on the way back.  When the transport landed and they stepped out, Mark shivered a little at finding Rodan eying them with a hungry look.  A low rumble from Godzilla made the giant flyer flinch and lower his head, not meeting the Alpha’s eyes.

Godzilla, though, was watching them.

Madison paid it no mind, rushing forward as quickly as her aching body could to the giant creature curled up on the ground.  In the light of day, with those massive wings spread in tatters across the rubble, Mark couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pity.

“Ewww…” Madison had reached out a hand, only to pull it back covered in a thin slime.  Dr. Chin immediately took the girl’s wrist and wiped it off with a cloth, then placed the cloth in a baggie and stowed it away in her coat.  Mark could relate to that, at least.  A sample was a sample.  “Why is she gooey?”

“That… that’s a really good question, Maddie.  She’s only been down for an hour or so.”

“Well, one way to find out if she’s dead or not,” Sam said, almost cheerful as he pushed past carrying a massive piece of equipment in his arms.  He set it down beside Dr. Chin, and it didn’t take long between the two of them to have it fired up and scanning the giant moth.

A faint, soft thrum.  Several long moments went by.  Then another.

Dr. Chin grinned.  “Well, maybe she’s not as dead as we thought.  Her heartbeat is very slow, but it’s there.”

“Or she could just be on the verge of death,” Mark argued, though he was distracted by Maddie splatting herself against the giant moth’s face with a delighted squeal.

“Maybe.  Or maybe not.  Look at her wings.”

Mark blinked, then took a closer look.  It took a moment for him to realize what he was seeing, but…

“Are they… smaller?  And getting shorter?”

“Looks like it,” Sam said.  “She may be drawing them in to use as fuel reserves for regenerating.  It’s got to be energy intensive, even for a Titan.”

Mark took the time to help free Madison from the sticky goo on the giant bug’s face (she was getting _all the showers_ after this) while watching the huge wings slowly get drawn into Mothra’s body.  Meanwhile, the goo all over thickened, and when the wings grew short enough, they slowly began to wrap around the giant bug.

“She’s forming a new egg,” Dr. Chin whispered.  “I think she’s going to be alright, given time, Madison.”

A rumble and a shake of the ground startled them all, followed by another.  The ground shaking became more constant, with ebbs and flows, and Mark looked up to find that the other titans were leaving.  Rodan gave them another look, but took off in the opposite direction with another warning growl from Godzilla.

Hopefully he would be able to convince the hungry bird that humans weren’t on the menu.

Godzilla, though, was coming right for them.

Feeling very much like a mouse going up against a heavyweight wrestler, Mark tugged Maddie a little closer protectively as the Alpha Titan loomed over them.

It was only when he leaned down that they realized he wasn’t looking at them, but instead the steadily forming egg.

Maddie wrenched free and ran up to it, then turned around and spread her arms wide, giving the Monster King a defiant glare.

“Maddie!” This was it.  This was how Dr. Mark Russell died.  A heart attack from watching his only remaining family sass the most dangerous creature on Earth.

Godzilla snorted, his brows quirking in a way that on a human would indicate amusement.  With shocking gentleness for something so huge, he leaned down further, bracing his front paws… hands? Mark wasn’t sure… on the rubble to keep from falling over.

With the utmost delicacy, he allowed Madison to reach a cautious hand out and place it on the pebbled hide at the end of his snout.

Mark would never understand Madison’s insane need to pet any creature she came across, no matter how huge or dangerous.

After a moment, he pulled his head away, then loomed further over them all.  Madison breathed out a sigh of relief.  “I… think he’s helping.”

Dr. Chin looked like the holidays had come early as Godzilla opened his massive jaws and breathed out a blue mist, which slowly settled down over Mothra’s giant egg and then sank into the newly formed shell.  “Does Mothra also eat radiation?  Is that what she did during the fight, give some to Godzilla to keep him going?”

“Whatever it is, looks like he’s giving it back.”

Seemingly satisfied, Godzilla slowly heaved himself back up.  He gave the egg and the humans one last, unreadable look, then turned and lumbered in the direction of the ocean.

The entire group let out a long exhale.

On the way back to the transport, Madison chewed a little at her bottom lip, grimaced at the lingering taste of Mothra-goo, then looked up at Mark.  “Dad?  I want to be here when she hatches again.  I want her to have a better life this next time around.”

“Maddie, she could be an egg for hundreds of years.”

“Then I want to be here as long as I can.  We owe it to her, to keep her egg safe.  She helped save, well… everyone.”

Dr. Chin shot him a knowing look.  “Maddie is the only one left from the original group studying Mothra.”

Mark sighed.  “Fine.  But I expect you to keep your grades up.”

***

_Fifteen Years Later_

For the past month, the egg had been showing signs of activity, but the sensors today were showing readings off the known charts.

This time, there were no taser guns or anything like that awaiting Mothra as she broke through the shell.

Instead, just a woman, with familiar kind eyes, who reached out a hand to place it on the new larva’s smooth, warm carapace.

“Hey girl…” Dr. Madison Russell murmured.  “Things will be different this time.  I promise.”

And then she smiled as Mothra delicately nibbled at her hair.  All was right with the world.

The phoenix had risen once more.

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I know that there's no way Mark would be able to know where the nuke was placed, but dang if that wasn't the expression I read on Godzilla during that part of the movie.


End file.
